Dr. Boyce Watkins at Your Black World says it's hypocritical for the U.S. to employ a military strike against Syria. Instead of going to war with Syria, he urges President Barack Obama to reconsider his foreign policy and shift his focus to domestic affairs.
But after thinking about the situation long and hard, I've concluded that fighting even a limited war in Syria would be wasteful, problematic and ultimately harmful to both our country and the world. So, here are a few reasons why it's hard to support military action in Syria:
1) The US government has no credibility after the lies told to justify the war in Iraq: Colin Powell didn't just use up his own credibility to convince the world to go to war many years ago, he used up much of whatever credibility was left in the US government. It's difficult to trust any form of intelligence coming out of the CIA or FBI, when these agencies have been known to lie to the American people for so long. Unless an attack has been proven absolutely necessary and our nation is in danger, it makes no sense to rely on faulty evidence to engage in military action overseas. Even as the president speaks about not putting any boots on the ground in Syria and keeping military action limited, the truth is that it's difficult to take the word of politicians who break campaign promises on a regular basis.
2) Syria is a sovereign country: The idea of the United States engaging in military strikes against another country because of human rights violations makes as much sense as another country attacking the US because we falsely incarcerate so many American citizens. Most Americans would scoff at the idea that the American people would need to be liberated from President Obama, so many Syrians might take offense at the idea that we feel compelled to undermine their leader as well. Can you imagine if another country were to supply the anti-Obama “rebels” in the state of Texas with enough weapons to overthrow the federal government? Perhaps there is something to be said about the blatant double standard that defines the American sense of entitlement: "We can go into your airspace and do whatever we want, but you can't do the same thing to us." This might explain why so many people hate us.
Read Dr. Boyce Watkins' entire piece at Your Black World.
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